Justice K. Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed a lower court to decide on a case against Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy as expeditiously as possible in accordance with law.
The case was registered at the court of Special Judicial First Class Magistrate (JFCM) for Excise Cases in Hyderabad based on a private complaint from BJP’s state general secretary Kasam Venkateshwarlu, who alleged that Mr. Revanth accused the NDA government of conspiring to do away with reservations for different sections. The JFCM court adjourned hearing of the case for three months, and the BJP leader challenged that order by filing a criminal petition in the High Court.
In the private complaint lodged with the JFCM court, Mr. Venkateshwarlu had sought a direction to register a case against Mr. Revanth under CrPC sections 299 and 300. He said the Chief Minister, at a public meeting in Khammam during the campaign for the recently held Parliament elections, alleged that the NDA government was planning to remove reservations for the backward classes and other sections. This was misleading, false, defamatory and objectionable, the BJP leader said in the complaint.
After the magistrate adjourned hearing of the case, the BJP leader, in his petition to the High Court, observed that the magistrate should have recorded reasons for the adjournment.
Justice K. Lakshman noted that the magistrate should have either taken cognisance of the matter and issued notice or referred the matter to police for investigation. The magistrate, however, chose to adjourn the matter without going into the content of the complaint, the judge said.
Disposing of the criminal petition, the judge directed the magistrate to conduct proceedings in the case and take a call expeditiously.
